


The Second Day

by SoVeryAverageMe



Series: muses (a hq!! rewatch project) [18]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Character Study, Datekougyou | Date Tech, Friendship, Gen, Moniwa Kaname-centric, Nostalgia, S01E18: Guarding Your Back, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:22:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27824467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoVeryAverageMe/pseuds/SoVeryAverageMe
Summary: A glimpse into the day after Dateko is knocked out of Interhigh by Karasuno.(Or, three conversations that Moniwa has with his teammates the day after his last official high school volleyball game.)
Relationships: Futakuchi Kenji & Moniwa Kaname, Kamasaki Yasushi & Moniwa Kaname & Sasaya Takehito, Moniwa Kaname & Sakunami Kousuke
Series: muses (a hq!! rewatch project) [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1592755
Kudos: 15





	The Second Day

**Author's Note:**

> Gosh, it took a while to get this one out! The first ~200 words of this took over three months to write, by I resolved myself to finish it (mostly so I can at least try to start writing for various holiday exchange fics, which are due imminently.) 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Moniwa entered the gates, crossing onto the Datekou campus. School didn’t start for another two hours, and no one else was hanging around the school courtyard in the early morning.

When his alarm had gone off, he had gotten ready for school in a daze. It wasn’t until he was halfway there that he realized that morning practice had been canceled for the rest of the week, after their loss to Karasuno at Interhigh. 

It was the first time that year that practice had been canceled. 

The school was eerily silent in the morning as he walked toward the clubroom, alone in his thoughts. He gripped his bag, yesterday replaying over and over in his head, looking for places to improve and missed opportunities. 

A loud crash startled him out of his thoughts. When he rounded the corner, he saw Kamasaki and Sasaya chasing down volleyballs that had spilled out of a cart. 

His leg shot out to stop a ball from rolling further down the hallway. “What are you guys doing here?” 

Sasaya looked up from where he was herding rogue balls, “The same as you, I guess.” 

“You know practice was canceled, right?” 

Moniwa jumped when he felt a hand hit his back. In his peripheral vision he could see Kamasaki smirking, “And that didn’t stop you either.” 

“I was operating on auto-pilot.” He shrugged, pulling his backpack higher on his shoulders. “I was just planning on sitting out in the courtyard until other people started arriving.” Picking up the volleyball by his foot, he continued, “but it looks like you two have other plans.” 

Sasaya and Kamasaki looked at each other, having a silent conversation before turning dual wicked grins toward Moniwa. In almost perfect synchronicity, they grabbed both of his arms and started to pull him toward the gym. “We need a setter!” 

Seventy-five minutes later, they’re lying on their backs in the middle of the gym, all of their hands sore from the repetition of hitting volleyballs. 

Moniwa tilted his head up to get a better look at his friends. “Feels kind of weird to not be working towards anything.” 

“What do you mean?” Kamasaki asked, rolling over onto his stomach to get a better look at him. 

“Every time we’ve played volleyball in this gym, we’ve always been trying to accomplish something: making the starting line-up, teaching our kouhai, or winning Interhigh. But—” he paused, not sure how to continue. 

“But there are no more games,” Sasaya finished. “Hardly any practices remaining too... at least officially.” 

Kamasaki laid his head in his arms, tilting his head in order to look up at the volleyball net. “Guess there’s no one to play for except ourselves.” 

“When did you get so sentimental?” Moniwa asked, snorting out a laugh. 

“Shut up! We played our last official game yesterday. I’m allowed to be nostalgic,” he pushed himself upright. “Plus, it really annoys Futakuchi when I say stuff like.” 

“You’re such an asshole,” Sasaya said, getting up in order to punch Kamasaki in the shoulder. 

“Yeah, but you’re friends with me anyways.” He pulled out his phone to check the time. “Come on, if we hurry we can grab some pastries from the bakery on the corner before class starts!” 

The two of them dragged Moniwa upright and pulled him out of the gym. He pretended to struggle, but his mock arguments couldn’t cover up his smile.

After all, he’d been letting them pull him into their chaos for the last three years. One more time wouldn’t hurt.

* * *

Futakuchi paced back and forth in the stairwell, glaring at every student that gave him an odd look as they passed. He pulled his phone from his pocket, checking for any new notifications, but his last text had been left on read. He continued to pace, idly scrolling through various apps. 

A voice startled him out of his thoughts. “Aren’t you supposed to be in class?” 

“What the—” His heart was still racing, when he looked up and saw Moniwa staring at him from the second story landing. “Fuck, you’re going to give me a heart condition.” 

“Again, why aren’t you in class right now?” he asked while descending the steps. “You know there’s a GPA requirement to be on the team and as captain you should lead by example. “ 

“There’s a substitute teacher today, and you have a free period right now. Also, about that whole captain-thing,” Futakuchi paused and cleared his throat, “Why the fuck am I captain?” 

Moniwa stifled a laugh. “Third years don’t get to vote for next year’s team captain. You’re captain because you were picked by the rest of the team.”

“Sure.” He drew out the word, adding a little bit of a sarcastic scoff to the end. “Coach said that you recommended me, but I don’t get it,” Futakuchi continued, giving a helpless shrug. “Why me?” 

“Why not you?” he replied, crossing his arms and leaning against the handrailing. “You’ll be a good captain, or at least grow into one.” 

“But I don't know how to do this,” Futakuchi groaned. “I’m nothing like you. I don’t know how to be a captain.” 

“You’re right. You’re nothing like me. You’re loud and brash and ultra-competitive,” Moniwa put his hands into his pockets and shrugged. “You won’t be a captain like me, you’ll be a captain like _you_.” 

“You really think so?” 

“Yeah, and to let you in on a little secret: None of us know what we’re doing.” Moniwa turned to go back up the stairs, “I’ll see you at practice this afternoon.” 

* * *

Sakunami lingered outside the clubroom after practice. Koganegawa asked him if he wanted to go to the convenience store for an after-practice snack, but he waved him off. The rest of the team nodded their heads at him as they left, but didn’t make any attempt at conversation.

Moniwa was the last one to leave the clubroom. He locked the door behind him before noticing Sakunami was still waiting outside. “Is everything alright? Do you have a way to get home?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Sakunami stammered. “I live right down the block!” He kicked his feet to get the rest of his nerves out. “Um, actually, I was waiting for you. I was hoping we could talk.”

“Sure.” Moniwa leaned against the wall. “What’s up?”

“I want to apologize for my part in our loss yesterday,” he said, bowing deeply at the waist. “It was the third years’ last game, and I know you were all hoping to make it to Nationals.” 

“Sakunami.” Moniwa urged the boy out of his bow. “It wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t any of our own faults. The team practiced harder than we ever had before , but we never could have prepared for what Karasuno had become. They were the better team yesterday.”

“What are we going to do without you guys?” His voice sounded a bit watery with tears.

“Hey,” Moniwa squeezed the younger boy’s shoulder ‘We’re not leaving quite yet, and we’ll still be there to cheer you on after we’ve officially transitioned off the team. Plus, Futakuchi keeps changing the subject when I try to teach him about the more administrative duties of captainship, so you’ll still be seeing me around until I drill those concepts into his head.” 

Sakunami huffed out a laugh, “You’ll probably need to lock him in the clubroom.”

“Well, I’m sure I can get Aone to help,” he replied, smirking. Moniwa paused, looking down at his feet. “We lost yesterday and that sucks. It really does, but we’re still here and we’re still playing volleyball.” He looked back up at Sakunami, “This isn’t the end of the story, but it’s up to you and the rest of Dateko to continue it. To carry the torch as we once did.”

“You were a really great captain,” Sakunami said, a light blush on his cheeks. 

“Make sure you say that in earshot of Futakuchi,” he replied, ruffling the other boy’s hair. 

Moniwa checked one last time that the clubroom was locked behind him, before turning to leave. “Go out there and win for us, alright?” 

He didn't look back.

**Author's Note:**

> I 100% tried to resist the urge to have Moniwa quote _Into the Spiderverse_ during his speech to Futakuchi.
> 
> Feel free to check out what I'm up to on other parts of the internet: I'm probably doom-scrolling through either [twitter](https://twitter.com/SoVeryAverageMe) or [tumblr](https://soveryaverageme.tumblr.com/).


End file.
